I really wish there was an (k)Ubuntu-like Linux distro - apt-based, semi-annual updates, kde default or selectable - but without all the stupid Ubuntu-isms like snap and alpha quality rust coreutils and whatnot. I run Gentoo and Debian for myself, but I'd like something normie-friendly I can put on other peoples machines and not get a ton of support questions.
Imho the future (or present) of normie friendly distros is in atomic linux. Fedora Silverblue, Bazzite, Aurora, SteamOS. It seems to me that Ubuntu on desktop is traditional but quite behind. For normies its gonna be some Fedora based distro and they choose Gnome or KDE.
That is exactly Linux Mint ( https://linuxmint.com/ ) . I encourage you to give it a try. It is what I have settled on after 25 years of using linux, and trying near about every distro in existence.
I'm aware of Linux Mint, but I always dismissed it because of Cinnamon without giving it much thought. Looks like KDE can be shoehorned in without much trouble.